What’s (Left) In Your Wallet?

February 21, 2017

– Catherine Holt is the CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce. 250.383.7191, CEO@victoriachamber.ca, www.victoriachamber.ca.

GREATER VICTORIA – Gasps were heard across Greater Victoria in January as property assessment notices landed and thoughts of, “My property is worth how much?”, gave way to, “What does this mean for my property taxes?”

The good news is that a rise in your property value does not – necessarily – mean you will be paying more in your property taxes. But the bad news is it may. So let’s open a dialogue about property taxes.

Each year municipalities decide how much money they need to bring in, and then set their property tax rates accordingly. Property taxes also include levies collected on behalf of different authorities, e.g. BC Government (school districts), Capital Regional District, Capital Regional Hospital District, BC Transit, and Municipal Finance Authority.

The combined rate of all levies to be collected is often called a mill rate. In Greater Victoria, mill rates are based on $1,000 of taxable value and vary by class of property, such as: residential, industry, commercial/business, utilities, supportive housing, farming, non-profit, and recreational.

Municipality

2016 Residential Rate

2016 Commercial Rate

2016

Ratio

2015 Ave. Property Value

2016 Ave. Residential Taxes

2016 Ave. Business Taxes

Central Saanich

6.92889

16.20779

1:2.3

$527,500

$3,655

$8,550

Colwood

6.7904

24.1616

1:3.6

$435,700

$2,959

$10,527

Esquimalt

7.82484

22.73613

1:2.9

$483,000

$3,779

$10,982

Highlands (SD[2]1)

5.8950

20.9657

1:3.6

$517,800

$3,052

$10,856

Highlands (SD2)

6.1517

1:3.4

$3,185

Highlands (SD3)

5.8578

1:3.6

$3,033

Langford

5.9665

17.8579

1:3

$402,200

$2,507

$7,504

Metchosin

3.2499

11.4398

1:3.5

$525,700

$1,708

$6,014

North Saanich

4.6147

19.8333

1:4.3

$663,000

$3,060

$13,149

Oak Bay

6.0601

15.5345

1:2.6

$785,900

$4,763

$12,209

Saanich

(SD1)

6.40717

21.8305

1:3.4

$544,500

$3,489

$11,887

Saanich

(SD63)

6.36997

1:3.4

$686,800

$4,375

$14,993

Sidney

6.19211

16.79481

1:2.7

$453,600

$2,809

$7,618

Sooke

6.94079

18.07772

1:2.6

$362,300

$2,515

$6,550

Victoria

6.8297

21.4646

1:3.1

$547,200

$3,737

$11,754

View Royal (SD61)

5.83094

19.25562

1:3.3

$509,200

$2,969

$9,805

View Royal (SD62)

6.08764

1:3.2

$3,100

One of our concerns is the difference – or ratio – between property taxes. In the City of Victoria municipality, for example, the 2016 mill rates were 6.8297 for residential and 21.4646 for commercial, for a ratio of 1 to 3.1.

That means in 2016 an average City of Victoria resident would have paid $3,737 in property taxes (before any grants) on a residence valued at $547,200, while a business would have paid $11,745 on a commercial property of the same value.

The rationale for this ratio is unclear, raising the question, does a non-residential property owner consume more than two times the tax-supported services of a residential?

We suspect not. A 2007 report by MMK Consulting for the City of Vancouver found that, on average, residential properties in Vancouver paid $0.56 in property taxes for each dollar of tax-supported services consumed, while non-residential properties paid $2.42 for every dollar of tax-supported services they consumed. While this report is dated, the issue is not. We anticipate a similar study of Greater Victoria municipalities would find the same results.

Businesses need to understand what drains their bank accounts. Commercial property taxes affect a business’ competitiveness and profit margins. With our region facing serious challenges such as the rising costs – and decreasing inventories – of housing and inadequate transportation systems, we simply do not need any more disincentives to do business in Greater Victoria.

As the voice of Greater Victoria businesses, The Chamber is asking all 13 of Greater Victoria municipalities to outline their intentions for their 2017 mill rates. We will watch ratios carefully, and intend to be quite vocal – locally and provincially – if we see increases. We hope this effort will enable a common understanding and informed dialogue, contributing to sustainable, fair, and transparent property taxes.

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